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Joshua Kurlantzick is depicting Cambodia as another Zimbabwe, with its prime minister, Hun Sen as another Robert Mugabe. Indeed, there are parallels. Hun Sen - a former communist and member of the murderous Khmer Rouge - is one of the world's most notorious and longest-serving autocrats, and he has been in power in various coalitions since 1985. No stranger to controversy, he seized power from his then co-prime minister, Prince Ranariddh, brother of the then king, Sihanouk, in 1997. Sihanouk's son, Sihamoni was sworn in as monarch in 2004, after his father's abdication due to poor health. The monarch's role is mainly ceremonial, but enjoys semi-divine status.Hun Sen was reappointed by parliament in 2013 for a further five-year term, prompting mass demonstrations and opposition allegations of electoral fraud. His Cambodian People's Party won 68 seats in the poll, to the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP)'s 55, which alleged that 2.3 million votes had been stolen from them. Last month Cambodia's Supreme Court dissolved CNRP, and accused it of sedition, leaving Hun Sen no significant rival in next year's election. The 65-year old has once said that he would rule Cambodia into his seventies. Critics accuse Hun Sen of becoming authoritarian, resorting to electoral fraud and brutal suppression of the opposition to maintain his grip on power. His family has been bleeding the country of wealth during his years in office, with a “stranglehold” on Cambodia's economy, which is dominated by garment-making, but tourism is expanding. The country hopes to tap into offshore oil and gas reserves and draw in overseas investment to replace aid. Corruption is deep-rooted and Cambodia is still one of the world's poorest countries. Hun Sen has marketed his country to overseas investors as an attractive investment destination with very little regulation and cheap labour.Obama visited Cambodia in 2012 on the final stop of his Asia tour and became the first sitting US president to set foot in Myanmar and Cambodia, two Asian countries known for their legacy of human rights abuses and government oppression. Hun Sen chaired the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, and his American guest arrived to little fanfare. Obama pointedly criticised his host on the issue of human rights during a tense meeting, urging him to hold fair elections and release political prisoners. He also warned that Cambodia's record on human rights would be an impediment to deeper ties with the US.Hun Sen never sought to hide his appeasement with China and had blocked the inclusion of any mention of the South China Sea disputes in the joint communiqué of the ASEAN ministerial meeting, placing his close relationship with China above the interests of fellow ASEAN members. With an influx of cash from Beijing, Cambodiga pivots to China, which cashes in when anti-US sentiments grow. Two months ago, Hun Sen won words of support from China after the US and the EU condemned the arrest of his main rival and massive crackdown on his critics before next year's election.Indeed, Trump was not interested in reminding regional leaders to uphold human rights and promoting democratic values while he attended this year's ASEAN summit in Manila last month. His administration "has rolled back this pressure." Instead he lashed out at the - in his eyes - fake news media, which went down well with autocratic leaders like Hun Sen, who in the past accused the US of interfering in his country's domestic affairs, by backing the opposition party CNRP. He even complained to Trump about the US embassy seeking to instigate a "colour revolution." During the 2016 US election, Hun Sen was quick to throw his support behind Trump, arguing that the GOP candidate would lead to a better world. His support for Trump was not shared by CNRP. At the summit in Manila he heaped praise on Trump and both men became quite chummy. But Trump will definitely not forgive Cambodia’s 1970s war debt, that it accrued during the Lon Nol regime after borrowing approximately $200 million from the US. With interest, the debt may amount to $500 million today.